Dark Sun Sorcery

[Foolish Frost]

Well, funny enough, we decided to play a dark sun game right before all the hubbub about it.

 

We came up with the following preserving/defiling rules.

 

Essence Cost:

1 per 5 Essence points

 

Essence is an endurance reserve for Sorcery. Without an Essence reserve, no matter how many Sorcery based spells the character knows, they cannot power them.

 

Essence point cost is balanced against the setting.

 

Suggested Essence points by character 'experiance/ability'...

Wizard END Level

Apprentice 01-10

Sorcerer 11-20

Master 21-40

Archmage 41-80

DragonKing 81+

 

Essence Recovery:

The character does not have to buy recovery, as it is built into the rules of Defiling and Preserving magic.

 

Preservers recover an amount of Essence per hour, without harm to the environment, based on the land he is currently in. Preservers know how to store this Essence for later use, but run the risk of running out as their essance reserve drains.

 

Defilers are able to draw the same amount of Essence in just moments (a single action), turning an area of ground and plants into ash around the Defiler equal to a 1" (2 yard) radius around the Defiler. Each time the Defiler draws energy this way, the circle of defiled ground increases another 1" radius. A Defiler cannot defile a radius larger than his Essence score, and ceases being able to draw Essence until he moves to a more fertile postion. They also cannot defile more land than they can store essence.

 

Any time a spell caster uses defiling to gather power, a point of the spellcaster's Essence becomes Tainted. This is cumulative, and can quickly lead to a spellcaster's Essence to be completly tainted in a short time period if the character is careless.

 

Tainted Essence cannot be recovered as a preserver (by the hour, without defiling), and can only be recovered by drawing Essence as a defiler (and thereby Tainting ANOTHER point of Essence).

 

The character can only recover Tainted Essence as a preserver again by refusing to draw energy as a defiler. Each month the character refrains from defiling, he cleanses a number of points of Tainted Essence equal to the least fertile land he has been in during that month (see the same Essence Recovery chart). Regardless of how long he is in a forest, if he enters the wastes for a single day, he will only recover 1-2 Tainted Essence at best.

 

Essence Recovery Chart:

Terrain Recovery

Lush 10

Abundant 7

Fertile 4

Infertile 2

Barren 1

Defiled 0

 

 

Sorcery spells:

ALL spells and abilities based on Sorcery cost Essence as a form of END. Spells cannot cost 0 end, but can cost reduced/increased END or END only to activate.

 

Sorcery limits: Sorcery cannot make use of the powers Aid (druids/clerics/psionics), Ego Attack (psionics), Endurance Reserve (limited to setting), Extra-Dimensional Movement (Dragon), Faster than Light Travel (N/A), Healing (druids/clerics/psionics), Mental Illusions (psionics), Mind Control (psionics), Mind Link (psionics), Mind Scan (psionics), Summoning (druids/clerics), Telepathy (psionics), Transfer (Dragon), and Transform (to heal/make life/restore environment: druids/clerics/psionics).

 

The game master can of course allow some or all of the above abilities, but it should be noted that 'normal' sorcerers cannot.

 

Note this allows spells developed in just about any setting to work, but it should be noted that some spells (that can create water, or allow travel through time) are not allowed, or only work for some classes. For example, A follower of the spirits of Water might be able to create water, but just about no one else can. A sorcerer COULD detect water and make a spell to draw it to the surface to be drank, though.

 

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How's that work?

[director13]

Re: Dark Sun Sorcery

 

Cool beans!